Widower barred from seeing kids

Possibility exists of role in wife's killing, judge says

May 21, 2004|By Hal Dardick, Tribune staff reporter.

Citing the possibility Daniel Bowen played a role in the execution-style slaying of his wife, a Cook County judge Thursday extended an order of protection barring Bowen from seeing his two young daughters for a year.

"The evidence has raised a serious question about whether he was involved in his wife's death," said Judge Moshe Jacobius, chief of the Domestic Relations Court.

The judge added later, "The evidence is compelling the girls are terrified of their father."

Jacobius said the girls would remain in the temporary custody of Frances and Anthony Jamen Sr., the mother and stepfather of Anne Treonis-Bowen, an Illinois Liquor Control Board attorney shot in the back of the head early March 5 in a Bridgeport CTA parking lot as she was on her way to work.

The Jamens have cared for the girls, Danielle, 6, and Jennifer, 5, since the day their daughter was killed, when a temporary order of protection was entered against Bowen.

Dennis McArdle, 42, of the 1000 block of West 31st Street has been charged with murder. In a videotaped confession, McArdle--whom Jacobius called "a lifelong friend" of Bowen--said Bowen hired him to kill his wife.

Jacobius admitted the tape as evidence at the end of what he called "four days of wrenching testimony." The judge also ordered Bowen to stay at least 100 feet from the girls, surrender any firearms and allow the Jamens to continue to use his house.

Bowen, 43--a building engineer at the Chicago Cultural Center and, at the time of the slaying, a Democratic precinct captain--took the 5th Amendment 46 times during the hearing. He even refused to say whether he knew McArdle.

When he did answer questions, Bowen said he was the doting "primary caretaker" of the girls.

"Daniel Bowen's testimony was devoid of any semblance of credibility," Jacobius said, contending Bowen feigned distress on the witness stand a day earlier.

Jacobius also cited testimony from court-appointed psychologist Gail Grossman that Bowen has abused cocaine, and sometimes other illicit substances, for 22 years. Grossman said Bowen "has never been at higher risk for relapse."

Jacobius called Grossman "a highly credible witness" and noted Grossman feared that Bowen, who she said has an anti-social personality and suffers from depression, could harm the children.

Though taking the 5th cannot be used against a defendant in a criminal case, it can be used to draw "a negative inference" against one in a civil case, said Craig Hammond, the attorney appointed to represent the children.

Based on Bowen's refusal to answer so many questions and McArdle's videotaped statement, one could conclude it's more likely than not that Bowen "asked Mr. McArdle to kill" Treonis-Bowen, Hammond said.

Bowen attorney Charles Katz, however, challenged the credibility of McArdle, who has two felony convictions for battery and possession of a controlled substance.

And noting, as did Jacobius, that Bowen is considered "a person of interest" in his wife's slaying, Katz said Bowen was forced to take the 5th.

"He had that right," Katz said after the ruling. "In fact, I believe he had that obligation. ... Taking the 5th Amendment doesn't mean he did anything."